The disclosed embodiments relate to a system and method for improving the operation of a print shop arranged in multiple departments and, more particularly, to an approach in which information about print job flow among the departments is used to ensure, for example, that the departments possess suitable print job processing capabilities.
Some important steps for producing printed materials using a plate process include (1) preparing copy elements for reproduction, (2) prepress production, (3) plate-making, (4) printing, and (5) binding, finishing and distribution.
In this printing production process, an “end user”, such as, publishers, direct marketers, advertising agencies, and corporate communication departments, prepares copy elements for reproduction. In this “design” stage of the printing process, the end user provides images and data using slides or computer files to create one or more “pages”. Pages can be designed using computer programs such as QuarkXpress or other publishing software packages. Slides or computer disks containing pages to be printed are sent (via mail or express carrier) to be prepared for creation of a plate.
In the prepress production stage, the end user input (or “copy”) is transformed into a medium that is reproducible for printing. Typically, prepress involves typesetting, illustration, page building and design, image capture, image color correction, file conversion, RIPing, trapping, proofing, imposition, filmsetting, and platesetting. “Proofing” involves producing a proof, or sample, of what the printed product will look like. The proof is sent by mail or express carrier to the end user for review and approval. After alterations are made, new proofs are sent to the end user. Once approval of the proof is given by the end user, a medium, such as a computer to plate (CTP) file is produced and sent to the printer. “Imposition” involves the set of pages on a particular plate as well as their positioning and orientation. Imposition is particularly important in the creation of booklets or catalogs, where pages are positioned using register marks to assist in the stripping, collating, and folding of the printed product.
In the platemaking stage, a “printer” manufactures a printing plate using the medium created during prepress. Where a CTP file is used, the printer converts the CTP file into a printing plate or goes directly to a digital press. In the printing stage, the printer uses the printing plate to create the printed product. In the binding, finishing and distribution stage, the printed product is prepared in its final form.
Each step of the printing production process described briefly above can be accomplished using a variety of different known systems and techniques. For instance, conventional bookmaking processes are described in the following patents: U.S. Pat. No. 4,121,818 to Riley et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,738,155 to Rosenlund et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 6,952,801 to Warmus et al., the pertinent portions of which patents are incorporated herein by reference. As is known, the steps of the printing production process, which may include many more steps than alluded to above, can be performed in a print facility or shop in which various functions (such as graphic development, prepress, make-ready operations, collation, and binding, just to name a few) are distributed respectfully across dedicated departments.
Pursuant to the departmental approach, work (in the form of print jobs) may be staged in staging areas or buffers between departments. In one example, a print job is printed in a printing department, to form a group of print sets, and then staged before a finishing department in anticipation of one or more binding operations. That is, the print job encounters a waiting period at a departmental interface. When finishing resources for the print job become available, the group of print sets is picked up for processing.
It has been found that a significant amount of time can be lost in staging a given print job between departments, i.e., waiting for the given print job to be moved from one department to another. It would be desirable to provide a system that minimizes, or at least reduces, the waiting time associated with staging print jobs between departments.